Kim Kardashian Pens Emotional Note Thanking President Joe Biden Over Historic Decision

President Joe Biden made a historic decision on Saturday by acknowledging the Armenian Genocide, becoming the first U.S. president to do so. In the past, presidents have avoided describing the systemic killing and deportation of millions of Armenians from the Ottoman Empire to not upset Turkey. Keeping Up With the Kardashians star Kim Kardashian, whose late father was a third-generation Armenian-American, praised Biden for the move in a statement she shared Saturday.

“After more than a century of fighting for truth and acknowledgment, today the Armenian people received the recognition we have all been hoping and praying for, with President Biden declaring the massacre of 1.5 million Armenians in 1915 a genocide,” Kardashian wrote. “This has been a long journey for the Armenian community, and every year I felt we were getting closer and closer to recognizing the genocide as what it was. Finally, that day has come.”

Kardashian, 40, went on to say she is “so proud of my heritage,” and was “grateful” to Biden. “Although nothing will ever bring back the Armenians who were murdered, I hope that their families will now feel a sense of peace,” she wrote. “I will continue to honor and remember those we lost every year on this day, but now with the hope that after recognizing the genocide, we will never again allow atrocities of the past to be repeated.” In the end, Kardashian again thanked Biden for having the “courage to speak the truths others chose not to.”

On Saturday, Biden acknowledged the genocide in a statement to mark the 106th anniversary of the day it began. Biden vowed to do so during the 2020 presidential campaign, even though his predecessors had avoided doing so because Turkey is a key ally in the Middle East. There had been hints that the Biden administration would make the move, which was already condemned by the government in Ankara. “We are not going to take lessons about our history from anyone. Political opportunism is the biggest betrayal of peace and justice,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told a Turkish broadcaster, reports CNN. “We completely reject this statement that is only based on populism.” After Biden did release his statement, Turkey summoned U.S. ambassador David M. Satterfield to the country.

“Each year on this day, we remember the lives of all those who died in the Ottoman-era Armenian genocide and recommit ourselves to preventing such an atrocity from ever again occurring,” Biden’s statement read. “Today, as we mourn what was lost, let us also turn our eyes to the future — toward the world that we wish to build for our children. A world unstained by the daily evils of bigotry and intolerance, where human rights are respected, and where all people are able to pursue their lives in dignity and security. Let us renew our shared resolve to prevent future atrocities from occurring anywhere in the world. And let us pursue healing and reconciliation for all the people of the world.”